How Do RDS and Citrix Admins Prepare for the July 2027 Printer Driver Deadline? A 2026 Checklist

Last updated: November 2026

By Terminalworks, Remote Desktop Printing Solutions Since 2014

On 1 July 2027, Microsoft stops accepting non-security updates to third-party printer drivers for Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025 and later. Installed drivers keep working and vendors can still ship installers, so nothing breaks that day. For RDS and Citrix admins, Microsoft-signed vendor drivers on newer session hosts stop gaining features, so inventory and reduce them now.

Below: what the deadline actually changes, which remote desktop printing paths on RDS, Citrix and Azure Virtual Desktop depend on the affected drivers, how Windows Server lifecycle dates intersect with it, an honest comparison of native and third-party options, and a dated checklist.

What Actually Changes on the July 2027 Printer Driver Deadline?

The date comes from Microsoft's end of servicing plan for third-party printer drivers, announced in September 2023 and rescheduled in May 2025. It is the last of three milestones, and the first two have already passed.

The scope is narrower than most headlines suggest. Microsoft applies the change to Windows 11 and later and Windows Server 2025 and later. Session hosts on Server 2019 or 2022 are outside it, and vendors may keep publishing drivers that target Windows 10 22H2 or Server 2022 and earlier, as long as the same package does not also target Windows 11 or Server 2025.

What the 2027 Deadline Does Not Do

• It does not remove drivers. Existing drivers remain installable, vendor installation packages remain allowed, and Microsoft has no plans to disable v3 and v4 driver features.
• It does not stop security fixes for the legacy driver platform while each Windows version is in its support lifecycle.
• It does not switch on Windows Protected Print. The Windows protected print mode FAQ says the mode will be enabled by default "at a future date" and names none. Some industry coverage pairs July 2027 with that default. The Microsoft documentation we reviewed does not.

Why New Printer Models Matter More Than the Date

Since 15 January 2026, an update to an existing driver package is signed only if it adds no new hardware IDs and no new functionality, and is also a security fix, a fax driver, an ARM64 build, or targets Server 2022 and earlier. So a vendor driver on a Server 2025 session host today will not learn to recognize next year's printer models through Microsoft's channel.

Native redirection matches client printers to server drivers by name. When a user connects with a model the host has no driver for, RDS falls back to Easy Print where it can or leaves the printer out of the session, and Citrix falls back to its Universal Print Driver under the default policy. A pattern we see repeatedly is a farm where Easy Print was disabled years ago to fix one problem printer, so every redirected printer quietly depends on vendor drivers installed on every host.

What Happens When Microsoft Rejects a Vendor's Driver?

Microsoft's documented fallback: the vendor signs the package with its own Authenticode certificate, you deploy that certificate to the Trusted Publishers store through Group Policy or Intune, and you install the driver manually, because Windows Update will not deliver it. Microsoft notes that ARM devices do not support deploying a certificate to that store. On session hosts that keep the post-PrintNightmare default limiting driver installation to administrators (KB5005652), manual installation is not new work. Managing vendor certificates is.

Which RDS and Citrix Printing Paths Does the 2027 Deadline Affect?

Exposure depends on how each printer reaches the session. In our experience supporting thousands of RDS environments, most farms run several of these paths at once.

What Should Citrix Admins Check First?

Citrix's Universal print driver usage setting defaults to "Use universal printing only if requested driver is unavailable", so a model-specific driver wins whenever it is on the VDA. Citrix's printing best practices also note that from VDA 7.16, "Automatic installation of in-box printer drivers" has no effect on Windows 8 and later, because v3 inbox drivers are no longer included. Every model-specific driver on a modern VDA is therefore one somebody installed, and those are exactly the drivers the deadline locks on Server 2025 and Windows 11 multi-session images.

Review "Universal print driver usage" (consider "Use universal printing only" for document-only users) and "Printer driver mapping and compatibility". Citrix's 2607 LTSR installation guidance adds that the Print Spooler must be enabled and Windows Protected Print disabled for a VDA install to succeed. Our Citrix printing guide covers the rest.

Why Is Easy Print Not a Drop-In Replacement for Label and Receipt Printers?

Easy Print avoids server-side drivers by converting each GDI print job to XPS on the session host, sending the XPS file to the client and letting the client's local driver print it, as KB2462317 describes. That suits documents. It does not suit applications that write printer command languages themselves: Zebra's driver guidance says ZPL, EPL or CPCL generated by an application should bypass the printer driver through a generic text or raw driver so the commands arrive unaltered. One of the most common support tickets we receive after a session host rebuild is a label printer that worked through a vendor driver yesterday and prints blank or garbled labels through Easy Print today.

On Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft's RAW print support, in public preview since August 2026, sends RAW jobs instead of XPS when the host pool RDP property SmartRawPrinters:s:* (or a driver name prefix) is set. The RDP properties reference lists it for Azure Virtual Desktop only.

The exception list holds an irony. Devices that cannot support Mopria, which Microsoft describes as typically older mechanical designs or specialized devices, remain eligible for new driver signing in 2026 if the vendor supplies technical evidence. A Mopria-capable office printer cannot use that exception, so some specialty printer vendors may keep a signed driver path that office printer vendors lose. Approval is per submission, so ask your vendor. Our POS and label printing guide covers the specialty side.

Should You Keep Session Hosts on Windows Server 2022 for Now?

The 2027 deadline does not apply to Server 2022, and Windows Protected Print is not available on Server 2019 or 2022. That makes Server 2022 a legitimate bridge for farms whose terminal server printing still depends on vendor drivers, with a fixed end.

Windows Server 2016 reaches end of support on 12 January 2027, so 2016 farms must move before the driver deadline, and a move to Server 2025 lands inside the new rules immediately. Staying on 2022 buys time. It does not change Microsoft's direction.

When Is the Native Approach Enough, and When Is a Third-Party Tool the Better Option?

Based on over a decade of working with remote desktop printing, the deciding factors are the printer mix, where users connect from, and whether you plan to enable Windows Protected Print.

Where TSPrint Fits, and Where It Does Not

TSPrint creates the user's printers in the session with its own driver and prints each job on the client through the local printer's own driver, so no per-model vendor driver is needed on the host. That removes the category of drivers the deadline locks. TSPrint 3.x is installed by its own installer, which Microsoft continues to allow, so the Windows Update cutoff is not its constraint. Windows Protected Print is: TSPrint 3.x installs its own v3 drivers and port monitor on the host, which the mode blocks. TSPrint 4, currently in testing, adds a driverless IPP engine designed to work with the mode on or off, as described in our post on Windows Protected Print and remote desktop printing.

TSPrint is not the right answer everywhere. It needs a client on every endpoint, it is redirection rather than print management, and users printing plain documents to Mopria printers on a LAN are usually fine with Easy Print, as we explain in Microsoft Easy Print vs third-party RDP printing solutions.

Competitors face the same transition. ThinPrint says it will support Windows Protected Print once the mode becomes mandatory, and Tricerat notes that Windows Ready Print does not by itself simplify printing in Citrix, Horizon, AVD or RDS. For any product, including ScrewDrivers, ezeep, UniPrint or FabulaTech Printer for Remote Desktop, ask what it installs on the session host and what its documented Protected Print position is.

Your Pre-July 2027 Checklist for RDS and Citrix Session Hosts

Now to January 2027

1. Inventory drivers on every host and image. Get-PrinterDriver | Select-Object Name, Manufacturer, MajorVersion, DriverVersion, InfPath shows v3 or v4 drivers by vendor. Get-Printer | Select-Object Name, DriverName, PortName during busy hours shows which redirected queues avoid Easy Print.
2. Archive the packages you depend on with pnputil /export-driver * D:\DriverArchive, which exports every third-party package in the driver store.
3. Leave Windows Server 2016 before 12 January 2027, treating 2022 versus 2025 as a printing decision too.
4. Classify each driver as Microsoft, Citrix or redirection product, vendor office or vendor specialty, and check office models against the Mopria certified products list.

February to April 2027

1. Ask specialty printer vendors whether they will ship Server 2025 drivers after July 2027, and whether those will be Microsoft-signed or need a certificate you deploy.
2. Set driver selection policies explicitly: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers > Configure Windows Ready Print driver ranking on Server 2025 hosts and images, "Use Remote Desktop Easy Print printer driver first" on RDS, and "Universal print driver usage" on Citrix.
3. Keep Point and Print hardened. Leave RestrictDriverInstallationToAdministrators at 1 under HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\PointAndPrint and pre-stage drivers in the image.

May to July 2027

1. Pilot Windows Protected Print on one non-production Server 2025 host with real redirected printers. Enabling it uninstalls incompatible printers and deletes their drivers, and disabling it means reinstalling them manually. Check Citrix's guidance before trying it on a VDA.
2. Test Easy Print under the mode. Microsoft notes the XPS Document Writer is removed when the mode is on, and Easy Print is built on the XPS print path.
3. Decide, per printer population, whether a session host driver is needed at all. That decision also decides whether Protected Print is an option for you later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

The July 2027 printer driver deadline ends non-security updates to Microsoft-signed third-party printer drivers on Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025, but it removes nothing and does not switch on Windows Protected Print. Its real effect on RDS and Citrix session hosts is that vendor drivers stop gaining features and new models, pushing redirected printers toward Easy Print, the Citrix Universal Print Driver, the IPP class driver, or redirection that keeps device drivers on the client. Inventory and archive drivers now, leave Server 2016 before January, and pilot Protected Print on one host before you need it.

To test client-side driver printing in your own environment, download TSPrint with a free 25-day trial, or review licensing on the TSPrint purchase page. The current download is TSPrint 3.x, for hosts where Windows Protected Print is off. TSPrint 4 brings more than a new print engine, and we will share the rest closer to release.

Sources

Microsoft Learn and Citrix documentation pages carry a revision date rather than a publication date, so they are listed without dates and were reviewed on 4 November 2026. Items with their own publication date show it.

• End of Servicing Plan for Third-Party Printer Drivers on Windows, Microsoft Learn
• Legacy printer driver submission process, Microsoft Learn
• Introducing Windows Ready Print and Modernized Driver Selection, Microsoft Tech Community, 9 June 2026
• Discover Windows Ready Print, Microsoft Learn
• Overview of Windows protected print mode, Microsoft Learn
• Windows protected print mode FAQ, Microsoft Learn
• Printer redirection does not work in Remote Desktop Services, Microsoft Learn
• KB2462317, Easy Print conversion of GDI print jobs to XPS, Microsoft Support
• KB5005652, Manage new Point and Print default driver installation behavior (CVE-2021-34481), Microsoft Support
• Configure printer redirection over the Remote Desktop Protocol, Microsoft Learn
• Supported RDP properties, Microsoft Learn
• What's new in Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft Learn
• PnPUtil command syntax, Microsoft Learn
• Planning ahead for Windows Server 2016 end of support, Microsoft Windows Server Blog, 25 February 2026
• Lifecycle pages for Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022 and Windows Server 2025, Microsoft Learn
• Prepare to install, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2607 LTSR, Citrix Product Documentation
• Drivers policy settings, Citrix Product Documentation
• Printing best practices, security considerations, and default operations, Citrix Product Documentation
• Print, Citrix Product Documentation
• Find or Locate the ZDesigner Printer Driver on the Website, Zebra Support
• Mopria certified products, Mopria Alliance
• Windows Ready Print and ThinPrint: What IT Decision-Makers Need to Know, ThinPrint
• Windows Ready Print Is Here: What It Changes and What Protected Print Already Changed, Tricerat